
New UConn coach Kevin Ollie on the left, retiring coach Jim Calhoun on the right.
For the last 26 years, Jim Calhoun has been the man in charge of the UConn basketball program, though to merely say Calhoun has been in charge isn’t enough. Jim Calhoun made UConn basketball a powerhouse. During his tenure in Storrs, Connecticut, he took the program from an also-ran into a champion, winning 625 games, 7 Big East Tournament titles, and 3 NCAA Championships. That legacy will be coming to an end. Jim Calhoun is retiring as head men’s basketball coach at UConn, effective immediately. Assistant and former Calhoun player Kevin Ollie will be taking over effective immediately.
“I am very honored and humbled to become the UConn men’s basketball coach,” said new coach Kevin Ollie, who signed a one-year contract valued at $625,000. “I cannot put in words how grateful I am to coach Jim Calhoun, who retires today as one of the most legendary coaches in the history of college basketball. Coach Calhoun brought me here to Connecticut as a person right of high school and has mentored me into the person I have become today.”
Ollie inherits a program in crisis. Despite Calhoun’s titles and the recent NBA success of Kemba Walker, the team faces some issues. Specifically, the team is banned from the 2012-13 postseason for academic problems and has faced recent NCAA trouble. There’s also the issue of the fact that UConn is one of the rare places where the men’s program is outshined by the women’s program, but that happens when you set an NCAA record for consecutive wins.
Tags: jim calhoun, uconn, storrs, connecticut, kevin ollie, jim calhoun retires, jim calhoun steps down from uconn, jim calhoun retires as uconn head coach, kevin ollie to take over as uconn head coach, jim calhoun retires after 26 years in charge of uconn, basketball, men’s basketball, ncaa basketball, college basketball